Kamishibai - Alternative Literacy

Paleng Children's Centre in rural Lesotho works to improve child literacy and one of the ways they are doing that is through a storytelling form called Kamishibai. Kamishibai means literally "paper drama" in Japanese and originated in the 12th century, although had a renaissance in the depressions of the early 20th century as a way of providing an income to unemployed men.

The story is narrated through images, with the corresponding text written on the reverse (however it can get confusing because the text for the image must be written on the back of the previous card, not the current one).
Paleng have been using it as a fun way of encouraging reading for older children and an entertaining story for the younger ones.

For more information about Paleng and the work they do, see their website at www.paleng.weebly.com
For more information on Kamishibai, see this website.